My personal experience has been that the one without the bracket band sounded brighter, and the one with the bracket band had more sustain.
Whether that's a result of the bracket band, or a result of the set up, I don't know.

My sense is that the bracket-band banjos have more power and volume. Not asked, but the spunover elctric-style banjos might have the best sound tendencies of the lot.

I think you could on;ly tell if you had two banjos which were exactly the same except for the bracket band.

In my early days here I was told that flanges have no effect on sound. If that's true then I guess a bracket band would have a minimal effect.I could say that my maple rim bracket band whyte laydie banjo has a darker tone to my non bracket band whyte laydie style ring banjo. But I think that even though both heads are renaissance heads they are different and the three ply maple rings are from different sources and these two thing probably make the difference. Strings, bridges and tailpieces are the same.

quote:

---

Originally posted by GrahamHawker

I think you could on;ly tell if you had two banjos which were exactly the same except for the bracket band.

In my early days here I was told that flanges have no effect on sound. If that's true then I guess a bracket band would have a minimal effect.I could say that my maple rim bracket band whyte laydie banjo has a darker tone to my non bracket band whyte laydie style ring banjo. But I think that even though both heads are renaissance heads they are different and the three ply maple rings are from different sources and these two thing probably make the difference. Strings, bridges and tailpieces are the same.

---

Many thanks.....that is quite helpful to know!

quote:

---

Originally posted by Culloden

My personal experience has been that the one without the bracket band sounded brighter, and the one with the bracket band had more sustain.
Whether that's a result of the bracket band, or a result of the set up, I don't know.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bill Rogers

My sense is that the bracket-band banjos have more power and volume. Not asked, but the spunover elctric-style banjos might have the best sound tendencies of the lot.

---

Many thanks

I recently took delivery of a piece of brass bar 1/8" thick and 2" high, which I plan to make into a rim and put it under a brass Whyte Laydie with a rabbet in the bottom of the tone ring to keep it centered on the rim. The plan is to make this banjo in May, as an experiment. I only have made one bracket band as far as I can recall, and I recently heard from the person who commissioned that banjo. It got me thinking about doing a bracket band again, and then it occurred to me that I could, in theory, make a rim that was all bracket band and no wood. This will be a lot simpler to build than a bracket band. It's very likely a dumb idea and will have too much sustain, but I will find out for sure soon.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Zachary Hoyt

I recently took delivery of a piece of brass bar 1/8" thick and 2" high, which I plan to make into a rim and put it under a brass Whyte Laydie with a rabbet in the bottom of the tone ring to keep it centered on the rim. The plan is to make this banjo in May, as an experiment. I only have made one bracket band as far as I can recall, and I recently heard from the person who commissioned that banjo. It got me thinking about doing a bracket band again, and then it occurred to me that I could, in theory, make a rim that was all bracket band and no wood. This will be a lot simpler to build than a bracket band. It's very likely a dumb idea and will have too much sustain, but I will find out for sure soon.

---

Best of luck with your interesting project...hope it works well! Nothing beats trying & experimentation......and if there's too much sustain you could always hire it out for beach weddings to replace the church bells! 

Since we are using Vega company nomenclature, a banjo rim featuring an electric truss and wire without a bracket band is not a Whyte Laydie.

"Whyte Laydie" was a model that featured the electric truss and bracket band. When the electric truss was used without the bracket band it was the "Electric" model.

So the "electric truss" should be called an "Electric Tone Ring".

quote:

---

Originally posted by Joel Hooks

Since we are using Vega company nomenclature, a banjo rim featuring an electric truss and wire without a bracket band is not a Whyte Laydie.

"Whyte Laydie" was a model that featured the electric truss and bracket band. When the electric truss was used without the bracket band it was the "Electric" model.

So the "electric truss" should be called an "Electric Tone Ring".

---

So now that you've said that, indeed as many  have rightly said long before you in numerous discussions, as we know, would you have a useful & helpful answer to the question I very humbly posed to start with... regardless of the "nomenclature"?

quote:

---

Originally posted by Flatat

quote:

---

Originally posted by Joel Hooks

Since we are using Vega company nomenclature, a banjo rim featuring an electric truss and wire without a bracket band is not a Whyte Laydie.

"Whyte Laydie" was a model that featured the electric truss and bracket band. When the electric truss was used without the bracket band it was the "Electric" model.

So the "electric truss" should be called an "Electric Tone Ring".

---

So now that you've said that, indeed as many  have rightly said long before you in numerous discussions, as we know, would you have a useful & helpful answer to the question I very humbly posed to start with... regardless of the "nomenclature"?

---

Also by the way, many people are these days in the bad and inaccurate habit of referring to electric vacuum cleaners as "Hoovers".... that is truly the problem with "nomenclature'.... ask Dyson!

But many thanks again for those useful comments and advice here... much appreciated!

Someday hopefully someone will be in a jam or vintage instrument shop and do and A/B test on an old Vega Whyte Laydie and a Vega Electric. Hopefully they will be of similar age and set up. Then we will know.

The Electric is a Whyte Laydie minus the bracket band...

It is my expectation that the Whyte Laydie will be louder AND have more sustain. I believe weight of metal counts for a LOT!

????

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Old Timer

Someday hopefully someone will be in a jam or vintage instrument shop and do and A/B test on an old Vega Whyte Laydie and a Vega Electric. Hopefully they will be of similar age and set up. Then we will know.

The Electric is a Whyte Laydie minus the bracket band...

It is my expectation that the Whyte Laydie will be louder AND have more sustain. I believe weight of metal counts for a LOT!

---

Yeah... good luck with that.

About 25 years ago, I had an Imperial Electric plectrum and an earlier Whyte Laydie NO 2 5 string.  Both were Standard sized, 10 3/4" pots and 26" scale. With metal strings of the same gauge and plastic heads, there was little difference in tone.

I expect that, if I had mounted identical flesh heads, plain maple bridges and identical gut strings (La Bella still offered gut back then), I'd hear any real difference especially as the Electric had a mahogany neck with ebonized 'board while the WL's was maple/ebony and thicker.

Figuring that I was the only person at the time interested in the outcome, I passed on investing the requisite time and money in the experiment. Had I an earlier 5 string IE, I might have gone forward.